Modern multifunctional map displays, particularly those used in vehicles such as aircraft, watercraft, or spacecraft, display a considerable amount of information, such as vehicle position, attitude, navigation, target, and terrain information. In the case of an aircraft, most modern displays additionally display a flight plan from different views, either a lateral view, a vertical view, or a perspective view, which can be displayed individually or simultaneously on the same display.
The lateral view, generally known as a lateral map display, is basically a top-view of the flight plan, and may include, for example, a top-view aircraft symbol, waypoint symbols, line segments that interconnect the waypoint symbols, and range rings. The lateral map may also include various map features including, for example, weather information, terrain information, political boundaries, and navigation aids. The terrain information may include situational awareness (SA) terrain, as well as terrain cautions and warnings which, among other things, may indicate terrain that may impact the aircraft. The perspective view provides a three-dimensional view of the vehicle flight plan and may include one or more of the above-mentioned features that are displayed on the lateral map, including the terrain information.
Some conventional displays may suffer certain drawbacks. For example, in some instances, the display may not provide sufficient information for an operator to determine a distance between the aircraft and a point or an object on the terrain. Consequently, the object may mistakenly appear too close to or too far away from the aircraft. In other instances, a three-dimensional translucent plane having a fixed range with respect to a current position of the aircraft is provided on top of terrain and into a flight space. In these cases, the planes intrude into the visual space of the display, are always shown in the display, and may obstruct the operator's view of other information on the same display. Other conventional displays may only display terrain and other features based on data from databases that may not have the most up-to-date terrain information.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a display system and method that addresses one or more of the above-noted drawbacks. In addition, it is desirable to provide a display system and method that accurately displays the distance of objects based on real-time data in the perspective view terrain relative to the aircraft without obstructing an operator's view of other information that may be on the same display. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.